Jaques Congress Chess Timer

Chess clocks
Thomas Bright Wilson (1843-1915) of Manchester, is generally credited with the invention of the first chess clock, used for the great London international tournament of 1883. The first patent for a clock was issued in 1884 to Amandus Schierwater of Liverpool.

Flags were first proposed in 1899 by H.D.B. Meijer of the Netherlands. In the early days of clocks, overstepping the time limit was not equivalent to losing a game. Claiming a win was considered unsporting.



The Jaques "Chess Timing Clock"was introduced in the 1890s. The Jan 1898 British Chess Magazine had an advertisement for a 21 shillings Timer and a 24s one with the "Stop Catch", at the top of this clock, for stopping both sides.  Both were advertised for a few years, and then only the 21 one, and the name changed to "Congress Chess Timer". They ran the ad until 1919 and used the same photo from 1898 all the way through. The 21s clock is illustrated in http://www.crumiller.com/chess/chess_pages/timers/Jaques_chess_timer.htm
A flag never appeared in the illustrations, which stopped in 1919.

It would seem that the 21s clock had just one clock that oscillated between the two sides, as described by Jon Crumiler, and for 3s more you got two clocks with a pivoted control bar at the top. Jaques put their name plate at the top for the cheaper clock, and at the bottom for one with the stop catch at the top.

The clocks were made by H.A.C. ( HAMBURG AMERICAN CLOCK Co., 1883-1929). Founded in 1883 by Paul Landenberger from an earlier partnership of Landenberger and Lang, this German company produced domestic clocks of all types using American methods and many American designs.  In 1892 the firm registered the crossed arrows Trademark which is instantly recognisable, and can be seen on the Jaques dial.  The company was involved in the production of clock movements, clock parts, dials, and cases for all types of clocks. Most of these products were sold to the trade as they were not in the business of selling finished clocks. Jaques would have bought in the movements (the works) from H.A.C. and had them assembled into their branded chess clocks. The rival Tanner chess clock also had movements from H.A.C.